A GREAT ACTION MOVIE TO READ: STEVE HAMILTON'S THE HONORABLE ASSASSIN

Steve Hamilton's Nick Mason series slides into something different with each book, The first one, The Second Life Of Nick Mason, with the convicted felon getting an early release and high tone lifestyle from Chicago gangster Darius Cole, who soon learns he is to act as a killer for the kingpin worked as a crime thriller both gritty and slick. Its follow up, Exit Strategy moved into a heist mode as Nick planned and executed a way to get out from Cole's thumb and keep his ex-wife and child safe, that puts him from frying pan to fire since it puts him in servitude to a shadowy international organization, setting him up for the latest An Honorable Assassin, that works as a great action thriller.

Soon after the events from Exit Strategy, his new employers put him on a jet to Jakarta with an assignment to murder Hashim "THe Crocodile" Baya, a backer of terrorist missions. Working with a new crew that doesn't trust him and has a different approach, the hit fails and The Crocodile is on the run. To save himself and his family, he knows he'll have to hunt down Baya on his own. he gets help from twom members of the organization, Torino and Luna, who operate in a style looser than he is used to. He is also in the sights of Interpol Agent Savauge who has a personal obsession to take The Crocodile down.

Cinematic is the one word to describe this book, it is tight with no fat, moving at a rapid pace with clear plotting, The locals pop in a way where the characters interact with them instead of the reader being drowned in atmosphere. The action is intense and engaging with just enough geography for us to know who is where and follow it. The characters are sharply drawn yet their emotions ground this story that could easily fly over the top. The motivations that are tied to family, make all the big stakes involved personal.

The Honorable Assassin harkens back to the "heroic bloodshed" movies that came out of Hong Kong in the eighties and nineties like John Woo's The Killer and Ringo Lam's City On Fire. It's a tale told through action in heightened settings with two men trying to be honorable in their dishonorable worlds. Right before the autumn leaves start o turn, Steve Hamilton delivers one last blast of summer entertainment.